Zelensky targeted with fake picture of 'Hitler's Mercedes at presidential palace'
- Published on November 8, 2024 at 03:08
- 6 min read
- By Alexis ORSINI, AFP France, AFP Hong Kong
- Translation and adaptation Rossen BOSSEV , Tommy WANG
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"Hitler's parade car was bought by Zelensky," says a post in the Chinese social media platform Weibo from October 8, 2024.
It showed an image of a Mercedes-Benz 770 parked outside a building, alongside a photo of Zelensky captioned: "Zelensky purchased Hitler's car for $15 M".
It said the vehicle's "mystery" owner was revealed when the Ukrainian leader "was spotted getting out of the car in Kyiv".
The post gives the source of the information as The Seattle Tribune.
The photo ricocheted across social media around the world, including in English, French, Russian, German, Hungarian and Polish posts that falsely claimed it showed Hitler's Mercedes at the Ukrainian presidential palace.
Some posts also shared a screenshot of a Telegram post spreading the claim, which appears to be from a Ukrainian channel called "Voynareal". AFP found no trace of the account.
The misinformation spread after Zelensky presented a so-called "victory" plan to US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House, with Biden announcing a new military aid package worth nearly $8 billion for a struggling Kyiv (archived link).
Since Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Zelensky -- who is Jewish -- has been targeted by a spate of misinformation aiming to portray him as pro-Nazi.
AFP has previously fact-checked false claims he wore a 'Nazi T-shirt' and held a football jersey with a swastika.
Moscow has for years tried to paint the pro-Western Ukrainian government as neo-Nazi and used this as a pretext for its offensive in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Center for Combating Disinformation -- part of the country's National Security and Defense Council -- refuted the false claim that the photo showed Hitler's Mercedes at the presidential palace (archived link).
Vintage car competition
A reverse image search of the picture shared online found the original photo of the Mercedes with a different background.
It was posted on X by a car enthusiast account in February 2019 (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the image shared online (left) and the original photo, with corresponding details highlighted (right):
Various details match, including the reflection of trees on the windscreen and the car's shadow on the ground.
Further investigation confirmed the photo was taken at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, a classic car event held every year in California (archived link).
A closer look at the car's windscreen shows a "show car" sticker. Similar stickers are used at the event to indicate the category of the competing vehicle (archived link).
Photos published on the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance's Facebook page in 2014 show the car here, here and here (archived here, here and here).
The car -- a "Mercedes-Benz 770K W150 Offener Tourenwagen from 1941" -- took the top prize in the 'Class I: Mercedes-Benz Prewar' category that year, where it was listed as belonging to the William Lyon family of Newport Beach, California.
The 1939 model used by Hitler was a potent propaganda symbol of the Third Reich which the Fuhrer rode standing in the front seat (archived link).
A photo of the car featured in Wired magazine showed a green label with the model of the car and the same family's name (archived link).
The Mercedes belonged to the commander-in-chief of the Finnish forces during the Second World War, Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, according to the Lyon Air Museum in California, which was founded by General William Lyon (archived link).
AFP confirmed the photo was taken at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance by comparing fencing and vegetation in the picture to Google Maps imagery of the entrance to a golf course where classic cars taking part in the competition are parked (archived here and here).
A spokesperson for the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance told AFP on October 15, 2024 that the photo appears to have been taken at a spot where cars gather ahead of a parade.
Furthermore, the background in the edited picture shared online is available on the Adobe Stock image bank, captioned: "Office building of the President of Ukraine. City of Kyiv" (archived link).
Meanwhile, public data for the domain name of The Seattle Tribune -- which is listed as a source for the false claim in many social media posts -- shows the website was created on October 3, 2024, a few days before the misinformation gained traction online (archived link).
The website -- which is not a recognised media outlet -- appears to simply republish articles from various English-language media.
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